Elenor Quine

Elenor Quine
Elenor Quine was her name, but they just called her Nellie. My late mother said.
She was born in 1909.She was always apparently the last one up to bed
She was one of my Mothers sisters, who died when she was just twelve years old.
Because she got soaking wet then caught a cold
It then turned to Pneumonia. The year was 1921.
There was not a lot that could be done
My Mother was just ten, at that time. Her other sister was Winnie, Her brothers Bill and Tom.
But they are all now long since gone.
She did have another sister born years after Nellie died.
She was called Bunty When she arrived everyone cried.
She too has long since gone. Throughout the whole of her life my late mother kept a little white dish with two handles on it.
Because it used to be Nellies, I can’t bear to bin it.
This afternoon I just got it down to dust. Then all the memories of what I have been told
Came flooding back to me,. So much history it has. It is so old.
Now it is going back on the top shelf again.
A little dish that holds a story of pain.
So although Nellie I never knew you.
I just wanted to write a little verse about you.